Reynoldsburg native, script revisions make a difference in Shrek: The Musical

For those who saw
Shrek: The Musical on Broadway, the current national tour will be intriguing for its
differences – and notable improvements.
Meanwhile, for a Reynoldsburg native who is playing one of the two leading roles, the tour’s
visit through Sunday at the Ohio Theatre represents a happy homecoming – and a chance to strut her
stuff for family and friends.
Liz Shivener plays Princess Fiona, who develops a feisty relationship with the hulking green
title ogre during their journey through a faraway kingdom.
“What’s challenging is adding the truth to the slapstick and physical comedy, so that people
laugh with you rather than at you,” said Shivener, a Reynoldsburg native who graduated in 2009 from
Otterbein University.

After receiving mixed reviews in New York, the show has been reframed and polished for the
tour – which does improve the musical inspired by the DreamWorks animated film about a green ogre
who saves a princess.
Perhaps the most successful change is the new storybook-style opening number, in which Shrek
and Princess Fiona each step out of a storybook to begin telling their life stories, and a new
dragon, who also has a new number.
“In the previous version, we didn’t see the full-grown Shrek until 10 minutes into the show
or Princess Fiona until 30 minutes in. But these are the two central characters, so it helps to
introduce them right from the beginning,” director Stephen Sposito said.
Puppet designer Michael Curry (The Lion King, Young Frankenstein, Spamalot, How the Grinch stole Christmas) also created
a new dragon for the tour – one that can run and fly. (The effect is created, a la T
he Lion King, with humans in dark costumes holding up the “flying dragon” on poles, like a
Chinese kite, and racing around with it rather convincingly.)
“We were never completely satisfied with the old dragon. The new one is more much mobile,”
Sposito said.
The new song in the touring show focuses on how the dragon can fly – while scaring poor
Donkey.
Author-lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Good People) and composer Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change) aimed in their musicalization of the
DreamWorks animated film to delve more deeply into the psychology of the central characters while
bolstering the comedy.
“The world has told Shrek that he’s an ugly, terrifying, mean ogre and he’s believed
everything that society has told him for the first half of his life,” Sposito said.
“Now he goes on a crazy journey where he realizes he’s capable of loving and being
loved... “The theme is don’t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes a beautiful princess is
feisty, the lord of the land is not always good, and everything that looks evil, like a terrifying
ogre, is not evil.”

(Lord Farquaad in a scene from
Shrek: The Musical. Credit: Joan Marcus)

Shrek, meanwhile, is Shivener’s second national tour and second leading role on tour
following her stint as Belle in the Networks tour of Disney’s
Beauty and the Beast.“It’s the hardest you’ll ever work to have fun,” she said.
“The hours you put in on tour are long, but I’m lucky to be so young, to have seen most of
the country and experience the different audiences in different regions. You definitely can notice
differences.”
Of Fiona’s six songs, Shivener has three favorites:
Morning Person, in which the princess tap-dances with rats;
Who I’d Be, a trio between Fiona, Shrek and Donkey as they express their feelings and
dreams; and
I Think I Got You Beat.That song, a duet that turns into a fart-filled competition between the princess and Shrek,
may be the musical and comedy highlight of the evening.
“It’s kind of a sing-off between Shrek and Fiona about who had it worse,” she said.
“It’s like a pity party about their childhood that ends up bringing them closer together.”
Sposito’s favorite moment, meanwhile, comes at the end of the first act when Shrek sings his
part of
Who I’d Be.
“He dreams of being a hero, but he’s just been a hero. He dreams of rescuing a princess, but
he’s just rescued a princess. All of us have tremendous potential and power inside of us, but we
sometimes don’t realize it... We can be our own worst enemies... That’s what makes
Shrek universal.”
“The only way to be free and happy is to accept who you are,” he said.
“Everyone views the big bad wolf as bad, but he isn’t bad in our version. He’s funny.
The wicked witch isn’t wicked, but cool and fun. And the three pigs are crazy German brothers,
different than we expect them to be.”
“And its message is great for kids.
Shrek teaches kids about themselves and how to treat others.”

For Shivener, the
Shrek tour this week to central Ohio represents a happy homecoming.
Shivener, 24, expected a large crowd of family and friends to attend the Columbus opening,
including her parents Greg and Patty Shivener, of Reynoldsburg; and her younger brother Ethan, an
Otterbein student.
“I want to show them what I’ve been up to,” she said.
“My parents took me to the Ohio Theatre when I was little to see things like the CAPA summer
movie series... I’m so excited to play my hometown and a beautiful theater that I love so well."

IF YOU GOShrek: the Musical continues at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday (Jan.
14) and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday (Jan. 15) at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St.
Tickets cost $28 to $88 at the Ohio Theatre box office (614-469-0939),
www.broadwayacrossamerica.com and
through Ticketmaster outlets (800-745-3000,
www.ticketmaster.com).